Birds and Birdhouses

A glimpse of the birdhouses we have in our yard:

This is a "gourd" birdhouse made from a volunteer squash that I didn't know was there

until I found it really late in the year.  We hollowed it out and let it dry. 

So far, nothing has moved in, but it is cute.

Getting Lost in the Garden in Late April

My beautiful Charles Joly lilac

 

 

Pink Bleeding Heart, looking wonderful

Parenthood

 

 

 

(See... I'm so busy that I didn't even have time

to put the "r" in "spread".)

True Story

Years ago, after I had my first child...

 

 

#4 Mom Rule

Oops!

And I found this while I was taking pictures of my flowers ...

Okay, now look really close at the upper left corner of the square stepping stone at the bottom of the picture (right and down from the angel).  Can you see it yet?  Here, let's zoom in a little . . .

 

Can you see it now?

 

Yep, there it is!  My sweet little cory cat fish that I tossed out this winter when he died.  I loved this little fish.  But since I am not a super-sentimental type, I simply flung his body out the back door and into the garden, assuming that he would hit the dirt

and decompose over winter.  

He didn't.

He landed on the stepping stone and sat there for months until I found it just now.  (And look at all the dirt and mulch it could have landed on.  What are the odds!)

Poor little guy!  Sorry about that.  Totally undignified.

RIP, Corey Feldman, Corey Haim, or Corey Hart. 

Sorry, but I'm not sure which one you are. 

(I had three cory cats, and these names just seemed right.  But since two died, I now have two new ones - Ewan McGregor and Rob Thomas.  I love these little fish!)

A Garden in Spring (The other plants)

So many interesting shapes, textures, and colors!

 

Bleeding Heart leaves with dew

 

 

A Garden in Spring (Bulbs)

My new Chionodoxa bulbs in bloom, wet with dew

Hurray for Daffodils!

While the hyacinths take a hit every year from “deer nibbling,” the daffodils remain untouched.  Definitely worth growing!  In fact, I have added more and more daffodil bulbs every year, replacing the stupid tulips.

Daffodils bloom when not much else is yet!

(They're all droopy from the rain yesterday.)

Always cut some to bring inside!

 



Stupid deer!

“Deer resistant” really just means “After biting off the developing flower stalk, the deer will remember that they do not like hyacinths . . . and so they will move on down to the next hyacinth to try again.”

 

See the blue one under the white one.  Poor, sad thing!

 

Lesson learned the hard way: Never plant tulips (“deer candy”) near “deer resistant” plants.  The deer will definitely find the tulips, eat all of them down, and then sample the nearby “deer resistant” plants, leaving you with mangled, flower-less greenery.  And the deer will remember for years where these tulips were, even if you have been working on tearing them out every spring and there are almost none left (except volunteer sprouts that seem to keep popping up despite your best efforts to vanquish them).

On the left is a nibbled-down hyacinth.  On the right is the "open invitation" I gave the deer: tulips!  These tulip leaves are what remains of the "great tulip massacre" a few years ago - when I tried to tear out all the tulips so that the deer would have nothing to come back for. 

And yet the tulips keep coming back . . . just like the deer.

Stupid deer!

#3 MOM RULE

#2 MOM RULE

 

 

#1 MOM RULE